


Luna Lovegood's Lovely Labyrinth

by Tari_Sue



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-04
Updated: 2010-08-04
Packaged: 2017-12-05 17:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/725846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tari_Sue/pseuds/Tari_Sue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. When Luna holds a competition for the re-opening of Merlin’s Labyrinth, Hermione decides to win at all costs, dragging Harry along for the ride. However, things do not quite go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Luna Lovegood's Lovely Labyrinth

**Author's Note:**

> This was my entry for the 2010 hd_smoochfest in response to this wonderful prompt from Dornfelder.
> 
>  
> 
> A million thanks to my wonderful betas, Treacle_Tartlet , Lotus_Lizzy and Crazyparakiss , for catching all of my silly mistakes and making so many top suggestions for improvement – you are the very best. Thanks also to Dysonrules and the other mods for running hd_smoochfest in the first place and for putting up with people like me who think deadline is a funny word with ds in it.

>   
> — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 
> 
> Welcome to Merlin’s Labyrinth!  
> 
> 
> This labyrinth dates from around the fifth century and is rumoured to have been built by the great Sorcerer, Merlin. The exact purpose of its construction, we do not know.
> 
> The labyrinth, hidden by the structure known as Offa’s Dyke, was first rediscovered in 1941 and has been studied by wizards ever since. Now, for the first time, it is being opened to the public. 
> 
> We are offering you the chance to be amongst the first to see the labyrinth in our inaugural competition. The first team to navigate their way out will win our grand prize!
> 
>   
> — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —   
> 

“Hermione, remind me, how exactly did you talk me into this?” Harry frowned at the piece of paper before turning his frown on his friend. “I mean, seriously, I should be at home finishing my dissertation; I’d have thought you of all people would prefer me to be doing that rather than mucking about here.”

They were waiting in the middle of a field next to the big ruined abbey at Tintern. This being Wales, it was raining. Not a proper downpour, granted, but that annoying misty kind of rain that meant you suddenly found you were soaking and it was too late to cast an Impervious charm. The bit of paper in Harry’s hand was quickly disintegrating. 

“We’re here to help Luna. If you’d just stuck to the study plan I drew up for you, you’d have had your dissy finished a month ago and be on the final checking and proofing stage by now. It’s not my fault you leave everything to the last minute.” Hermione said primly, gazing around the clearing at the other competitors. “You know, I think we have a very good chance of winning, I don’t see any serious competition here at all.”

“So, because I didn’t do it the way you wanted, you won’t let me finish it at all? And since when did you give a damn about Luna anyway?”

“What do you mean?” She frowned at him. “Luna’s a friend of mine, of course I give a damn about her.”

“Oh come _on_ , Hermione,” he said, throwing his hands up. “Luna is a friend of _mine_. You tolerate her at best and you know it.”

“If she’s such a good friend of yours, why don’t you want to take part in her project?” She tilted her head with a gleam in her eye that suggested she’d won the argument.

“Because, as I keep saying, I have to finish my dissertation by next week!” Harry thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans and frowned at her. They’d been having this same argument for the past week, ever since she’d decided that they were entering the labyrinth and that they were going to win.

“A break will do you good, let you come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes. I’ve already offered to proofread it for you when you’ve finished,” she said, suddenly distracted by something over his left shoulder.

Glancing behind him, Harry groaned. “I bloody knew it! ‘Oh no, Harry,’” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice. “‘It’s got absolutely nothing to do with Ronald Weasley. I couldn’t care less what he gets up to these days.’ You’ve roped me into this because you want to beat Ron and Pansy, haven’t you? Despite the fact that I quite clearly told both of you that I didn’t want to be dragged into the middle of this and I wasn’t choosing sides between my two best friends!”

“Have you ever thought that by ignoring what he did to me you are condoning it, and therefore you are quite clearly choosing his side? Furthermore,” she continued, jabbing his chest with her finger, “I wanted you to come to this because I thought a break from studying might do you good so you can get back to it tomorrow with a clear head; it has nothing to do with that two-timing little weasel.” She jabbed at him again, forcing him take a step back. The guilty flush that stained her cheeks as she glanced back over at where Ron stood with his arm around Pansy Parkinson suggested she wasn’t being entirely truthful. “And I’m perfectly capable of winning without your help!” The final jab to his chest made him take another step back, this time crashing into someone standing behind him.

“Is this a private argument or can anyone join in?” an amused voice inquired. “I assume that, as weasels were mentioned, it might be one I’d enjoy.”

Harry turned around to find Draco Malfoy smirking at him, just as he had always done at school. Except, he wasn’t quite as he’d been at school; he looked somewhat more careworn, and a lot more grown up. 

“Malfoy?” Harry said stupidly, wiping the rain off his glasses. “What are you doing here?”

“Where did you expect me to be, Potter? Prison? Bad news, they let me out last week,” Malfoy sneered at him before shaking a box of junk at them. “You each have to take one of these if you want to participate.”

“You’re working here?” Hermione asked incredulously.

“Not exactly.” Malfoy replied sounding bored. “Astoria asked me to help out today, seemed to think I needed to get out of the house.” He jiggled the box at them again.

“What are they?” Harry asked, peering at the bits and pieces suspiciously.

“Hell’s teeth, Potter! I’m hardly going to try and get you to take some cursed object in front of all these people when I’m only just out on parole, am I?” Malfoy raised an eyebrow at him like a challenge.

“So what, you’re going to wait till you’ve been out a few years?”

“That’s right, then I’ll come for you when you’re sleeping.” Malfoy’s whole face brightened up as he laughed and Harry found himself wishing he’d had the chance to get to know the other boy, no, man, better. Malfoy had always been good looking, but prison actually seemed to have done him good, rubbing a few of the edges off, and now Harry was slightly disturbed to find himself attracted to him.

“In your dreams, Malfoy.” Harry found himself grinning back as he reached into the box and took out a lump of metal. “So, what are these?”

“I have no idea, I’m just doing as instructed,” Malfoy said with a shrug. With that he moved on to the next group with his box of junk, leaving Harry and Hermione shooting confused glances at each other as they examined their new, or not so new, rusty cog and bent crowbar.

“Everyone, everyone, hello!” the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood drifted across the small gathering. “Thank you so much for coming to the opening of Merlin’s Labyrinth! 

“The labyrinth itself is believed to have been built by Merlin, his seal was found on the gateway when the labyrinth was first discovered. A few friends and I have been restoring it as part of our university project. Now we would like you, in teams of two, to negotiate the Labyrinth! The lucky couple who gets round first will get one-thousand galleons and a year’s supply of Honeydukes chocolate.”

“Lucky?” Hermione muttered under her breath so only Harry could hear. “It won’t be luck that wins, it’ll be skill and planning!” She’d been researching labyrinths all week, as well as curses and hexes that might have been used in Merlin’s day, for which she’d made Harry practise the counter-curses for every night when he should have been studying, and anything else she could think of that might help. They each carried a small backpack, on which Hermione had performed her Undetectable Extension Charm, so they now contained packed lunches, bottles of water, first aid kits, a change of clothing and numerous books. Fortunately she had also placed a lightening charm on the bags.

“Now,” Luna was saying, “has everyone got their Portkey?” She held what looked like a piece of a car exhaust.

“Portkey?” Hermione said, looking at the rusty cog she’d taken from Malfoy’s box. “Why do we need Portkeys? Harry shrugged unhappily; mazes and Portkeys were not a good combination in his experience.

“…ensure that everyone doesn’t start off in the same place, you will all be transported to separate, equidistant locations and you will make your way back to the start from there.”

“Why do we have one each?” Hermione piped up. “Surely we need to Portkey together in our teams?”

“No, the Portkeys are in pairs,” Astoria cut in. “Each has a twin destination with another, so two people will land in each destination. It is important that you keep your Portkey with you, it will reactivate at eight o’clock this evening so if you become lost or are unable to return you will still be brought back. You can also activate your Portkey manually should you wish to return to the start without completing the labyrinth, but that will disqualify you from the competition.”

“But the Portkeys were all mixed up, how will we know which one our partner has?” Hermione interrupted again, raising her hand as though she were still in school. “Wouldn’t it be easier if we just used one per team?”

“It probably would, yes, but that’s not the way we’re doing it,” Astoria smirked at Hermione. “Luna and I are using this as a social experiment and we’ll be writing up our results as part of our dissertations; it wouldn’t be very interesting reading if you all went around with your best friends, would it? This way the teams are completely random, and you’ll just have to work with whoever you get.” Astoria’s grin suggested she was fully aware that she’d just spoilt Hermione’s careful plans for winning.

As Luna took over once more and explained a few things about the labyrinth itself, including all the rare creatures she was sure were lurking in there, Hermione folded her arms and looked mutinous. 

“Come on, Hermione, it’s not that bad,” Harry whispered, trying to be supportive. “I’m sure you can do well no matter who you partner.”

“Oh, wow, thanks Harry!” she hissed back sarcastically, turning to glare at him with her hands on her hips. “Do you really think I’m capable of doing this without you? I’m so glad you think I’m not entirely useless! Should I remind you who the brains was behind…”

“Hey!” He cut in, holding up his hands in surrender. “I was being supportive! I…”

“I don’t _need_ you to be supportive. I don’t need you and I don’t need Ron, I don’t need anyone. _I’m_ going to win this competition, _me_ , I’ll beat the pair of you!”

“OK everyone, if you could just quieten down,” Astoria called out, looking pointedly at Harry and Hermione. “I would just like to remind everyone that, as much as this is supposed to be fun and we are very grateful to you all for volunteering, this does go towards our final grade so please try not to mess it up for us. Each Portkey will only carry one person unless the emergency function is activated. Please try to keep it friendly.”

“Now,” Luna said with a huge smile. “If you’d all like to make sure you have your Portkeys ready. Remember to keep hold of your Portkey in case you need to get back here. Your Portkeys will activate in… 3, 2, 1…”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The familiar sensation of being dragged away from behind his naval washed over Harry and the next thing he knew he was steadying himself against a stone pillar. Looking around, he saw pretty much what he had expected – he was at a crossroads of two broken stone pathways surrounded by high hedges. A bust of a very ugly man glared down at him from a tall pillar, but there were no real people in sight. 

“Typical,” he muttered to himself. “I didn’t want to come here in the first place and now I don’t even seem to have a team mate.” At least it wasn’t raining in here; in fact everything was dry and dusty as though it hadn’t seen rain in a very long time. He cast a quick drying charm on his clothes.

What was he supposed to do now? Was this part of Luna’s experiment? Maybe they had deliberately not paired up one of the Portkeys to see how the contestant would react. Or maybe something had gone wrong and his partner was also alone somewhere. Then again, maybe they were just delayed for some reason. That was the problem, really – if he assumed he was on his own and went on he could be abandoning his team-mate, but if he hung around for ages waiting for someone who wasn’t coming, he’d be there all day.

Sighing in frustration, he took out his wand and cast a quick _point me_ to see what way to go before exploring the immediate area. After ten minutes, with no sign of anyone joining him, he gave up waiting and began making his way down the eastwards path.

A small pop sounded behind him, followed by a crash.

“…t’ll be too late to— oof. Ouch,” a disgruntled voice said, clearly trying to finish a conversation with someone back at the start. “But I haven’t even got a sodding wand,” the voice grumbled crossly.

Turning around, Harry saw the one person he really should have expected, kicking the stone pillar and rubbing his blond head.

“It just had to be you, didn’t it, Malfoy?” he called out, folding his arms in front of him.

“Potter?” Malfoy said, turning around. “Bugger. I knew this was a stupid idea, I should have just stayed at home today.”

“Yeah, you and me both,” Harry sighed, massaging his temple to ward off the headache that already threatened to form. “I’m going this way; it’s up to you whether you come with me or not.” He turned back to his chosen direction and started walking.

“Hey, Potter, wait up.” Malfoy hurried up behind him. “We’re supposed to be a team, remember.”

“You’ve already lost me quarter of an hour, I’m making up time. Like I said, if you don’t like it, bugger off.”

“I can’t, can I?”

“Why?” Harry shrugged. “Just use your Portkey and it’ll take you back to the start. Or go your own way, it’s up to you.”

“Fine, well I think I’ll go this way then.” Draco carried on walking beside Harry.

They walked on in silence, Draco walking sauntering along nonchalantly, looking for all the world as though he was walking by himself.

Eventually, Harry cracked. “Malfoy, what are you doing here?”

“Me? Just walking along, minding my own business, trying to find my way out of the Labyrinth.”

“Following me, you mean.”

“I’m not following you, I just happen to be going in the same direction as you.”

They walked on a bit further, avoiding the cracks in the path keeping an eye out for trouble. It was probably the most peaceful time he’d ever spent in Malfoy’s company; the other man wasn’t saying a word. Harry snuck a sideways glance at his companion, admiring the angular profile and pale hair. 

Before long, Malfoy broke the silence again. “I don’t suppose you happen to have my old wand on you, do you?”

“Yeah, of course I do, I carry it around with me all the time on the off chance I’ll bump into you.”

“A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed, Potter.”

“Why have you come into the Labyrinth without a wand?”

“What makes you think I don’t have a wand?”

“Instinct.”

“I didn’t exactly plan on coming in. Astoria roped me into helping her today, and then when they had a Portkey left over she tricked me into taking it so they wouldn’t have someone in here alone.”

“And you don’t have a wand because?”

Malfoy looked at him like he was stupid before replying, “You have my wand, Potter.”

“What? But that was years ago!”

“Yes, and as I told you earlier, I just got out of Azkaban last week.”

“Ah. Right.” Harry determinedly did not look at Malfoy, examining the high hedges instead. In doing so, he nearly tripped over a very small man in the path directly in front of him. 

“It bain’t nice ter go warking in’ter folk, is it now?” He was a bit like a cross between a gnome and a fairy, with a big nose, pointed ears, slanted eyes and a scrubby little beard. His clothes were the most mismatched pile of rags Harry’d ever seen; and _he’d_ grown up wearing Dudley’s cast-offs. 

“Erm, sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Harry mumbled. The little man didn’t even come up to Harry’s knee and he spoke with a thick Westcountry accent that was hard to follow.

“That’d be ’bout reet. Ye bigguns never do see ought but yersels,” the little man grumbled, adjusting a piece of ribbon around his neck that he was wearing as a tie. “Not that we seen many o’ yer kind about ’ere these days, not recently anyways. What yer doin’ ’ere?”

“Um…” Harry glanced over at Malfoy hoping for some help, but Malfoy just shrugged, looking like he had understood even less of it than Harry himself. “We’re taking part in a competition to see who can get around the labyrinth the fastest.”

“I really don’t see…” Malfoy began just as one of the little men interrupted him with a shout. 

“Jed, get down from there!” 

Harry turned just as one of them, who had climbed up the hedge, was reaching out to grab Malfoy’s hair. As his name was shouted, the creature lost his balance and fell, briefly swinging from Malfoy’s head before landing in a heap on the ground. 

“Ow!” Malfoy cried out indignantly, clutching at the side of his head. “What did you do that for?”

“Sorry,” Jed, replied from his ignominious position on the ground, sitting up and rubbing his overly-large nose. “I jes’ wan’ed ter know what it felt like. It wurz so shiny.” He held up a few strands of blond hair to the light and smiled.

“Who, or indeed what, are you lot, anyway?” Draco asked crossly still rubbing his head.

“I’d ’ave thought that do be obviarse,” the leader said, drawing himself up to his full height, which must have been at least half a foot. “We do be Cornish Piskeys of the clan Pengelly. I do be Colin. We came here with the Great Wizard Big Ears to help him guard the Labyrinth.”

“You’re not Cornish Pixies,” Malfoy said waspishly. “I’ve seen Cornish Pixies – they’re smaller and bright blue and very annoying. Although this lot have the last bit down.” There was a low angry rumbling sound from the Piskeys that sounded like a lot of small men saying the letter ‘r’ over and over again. 

“Thems sounds like Cobalt Imps to me, and granted, they can be found in Cornwall, but they ain’t pixies. ‘Sides, we ain’t pixies neither, we do be Piskeys, desended fro’ Joan the Wad,” the little man said defiantly with a proud tilt to his chin.

“No, I…” Malfoy started to say.

“Come on, Malfoy,” Harry whispered, stepping on Malfoy’s foot to shut him up. “Lockheart couldn’t tell his arse from his elbow, I doubt he could recognise a Cornish Pixie if he saw one. They probably know what species they are.” 

“We’re sorry if we offended you, aren’t we, Malfoy?” he said to the Piskeys, elbowing Malfoy in the ribs to make him respond.

“Oh, um, yes, sorry for being so rude,” Malfoy muttered, glowering at Harry before turning the full Malfoy charm offensive on the Piskeys with a dazzling smile. “We’ve never had the good fortune to meet a real Cornish Piskey before, you’re a long way from home.”

“Ah, reet, proper job,” Colin the Piskey said, seemingly at a loss for words. “I s’pose we’ll forgive yer then, seen as yer apolergised so nicely ’n’ all.”

“I’m afraid we really do have to get moving to find our way out of here before the others do,” Malfoy said smoothly 

“Arr, now, I’m sure it’s nothing so important that yer’d want ter miss a jar o’ cider and a nice Cornish pasty, my lover,” one of the female Piskeys spoke up, patting her hair down as she smiled at Draco. “Yer could sup wi’ us and be movin’ on dreckly.”

“I’m sure that would be simply smashing,” Malfoy replied with an exaggerated sigh. “But it’s a matter of honour, you see, there’s this girl called Hermione with frizzy hair who belittled my friend here and believes we can’t complete our mission before she does.”

“Arrr, the buoy’s reet, can’t be letting a female cast a slur on ‘em like that,” said one of the male Piskeys who appeared to be wearing nothing but a scrap of worn velvet tied about his waist.

“Is that so, Pat?” a wild-haired female spoke up, placing her hands on her hips. “An’ just why would that be then? Hmm? You saying she can’t beat ’em ’cause she’s a woman?” A few of the other females turned and glared at Pat who held his hands up and shrank back in submission.

“Um, right,” Harry said grabbing Malfoy’s arm. “Well, we’d really better be off you see.”

They quickly said their goodbyes and moved onwards down the path.

“Path ter the left is blocked,” one of the Piskeies called after them. “Ye’ll have ter tek the right hand one”

“Which path to the left?” Malfoy called back.

“What sort of question’s that? All of them o’course,” the Piskey shouted back.  
Another Piskey yelled something that sounded suspiciously like “And mind Draco!”

“What was all that about?” Harry said to Malfoy as they hurried away. “I mean, I know they took a shine to you and your stupid hair, but ‘mind Draco’? Seriously?”

“What can I say? I’m loveable,” Malfoy said with a smirk.

They carried on in relative silence till they came to a fork in the road. 

“So, do we trust the Piskeys and take the right-hand path or do we assume that all fae are tricksy and take the left-hand path?” Malfoy queried peering down each path in turn.

“Let’s see.” Harry pulled out his wand and cast another _point me_. The wand spun on his outstretched palm before coming to a stop down the left-hand path.

“Great, so the Piskeys were lying to us and just trying to stop us going the fastest way,” Malfoy grumbled, kicking the closest hedge.

“I don’t know, the spell only shows the direction we should be heading in, they said the way was blocked down the left-hand path.”

“Yeah, every left-hand path. That just sounds stupid.”

“Nevertheless, I think I’m going to trust them,” Harry said with a shrug, starting off down the right-hand path.

“What? Why?” Malfoy called after him.

“No reason not to,” Harry threw back over his shoulder as he kept going, not really caring if Malfoy followed him or not.

About a minute later he heard footsteps hurrying to catch him up and smirked to himself.

“Just because I happen to be going along with this doesn’t mean I agree with you,” Malfoy said sulkily. “I’m only with you for your wand.”

“Yeah? I bet you say that to all the boys,” Harry laughed. Malfoy pushed him into the hedge. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Potter, this is boring,” Malfoy whined after they’d been walking for about an hour, taking the right-hand path whenever there was a choice and not really speaking. They’d encountered a few common fairies who’d been fighting and who’d chased Harry and Draco away by throwing small stones at them, but otherwise nothing had really happened. “I bet those pesky Piskeys have led us the wrong way and we are just going further and further into the labyrinth.” Harry didn’t answer, mainly because he was harbouring similar suspicions.

The hedges had given away to redbrick walls at this point, which Harry didn’t think looked particularly old. He couldn’t help thinking the whole ‘Merlin’ thing was a bit of a con.

“You know, I don’t think Merlin built this Labyrinth,” Malfoy said as though he’d read Harry’s mind.

“Yeah, I was thinking that,” he agreed.

“I mean to say, those bricks look more Roman than Dark Ages. I think this is a Roman labyrinth.”

“Huh? Roman? How can it be that old?” Harry asked curiously.

“Well, obviously all the magic running through it would help to preserve it, and the pathways are concrete, which is a skill that died out when the Romans left, and those bricks are characteristic of Roman structures too – really we’ve only just caught up to the Romans you know, they were bloody brilliant.”

“Since when did you know so much about all this stuff?”

“I’ve always been interested in history,” Malfoy said with a shrug. “I wanted to go on and study it at university, but obviously I never got that chance.”

“Seriously? But History of Magic was always so dull at school.”

“No, Binns was dull – the actual subject was very interesting.”

“I assumed you’d want to do Potions.”

“Nah, I was never that good at Potions to be honest. My father used to pay Snape to give me extra tuition.”

“Extra Potions?” Harry said with a shudder. “That sounds horrible.”

“You used to take remedial Potions, didn’t you?”

“Um, no, not really. Snape was supposed to be teaching me Occlumency but we sort of had a massive row and he threw me out.”

“Oh,” Malfoy said and then, after a pause, “I was always pants at Occlumency, Aunt Bella tried to force me to do it.”

“Me too. I mean, I was pants at it, not the Bellatrix bit.” Harry felt a sense of almost camaraderie at having something in common with Malfoy; it was a strange feeling and he didn’t quite know what to make of it.

“So, what are you planning on doing with your life, Potter? Becoming the world’s best Auror and defeating all the big bad evil people?” The spite in Malfoy’s words was somewhat alleviated by the laughter in his voice. Or perhaps it was simply mockery.

“No, I can’t really become an Auror.”

“Not good enough?”

“No!” Harry bristled. “I mean, yes, actually, I was plenty good enough, for your information. I just can’t go around battling Dark Wizards all the time and run the risk of having them disarm me, thus becoming the master of the Elder Wand, if you really must know.” He probably shouldn’t be sharing information like that with Draco Malfoy of all people, but the git had always managed to rile him.

“Yes, I can see how that would be a problem,” Malfoy said simply, ducking to avoid a pair of fighting fairies that came zooming over the wall. “So, what are you doing?”

“I’m just about to take my finals for a BA in Defence Against the Dark Arts. My first exam is in two weeks. I think I might do a teaching conversion when I’ve finished.” He could sense Malfoy studying him out of the corner of his eye.

“I could see you as a teacher, actually. You’d be bloody good at it.”

Harry was so shocked to get a compliment off Malfoy that he stopped dead in his tracks.

“What?” Malfoy turned and looked at him. “Just don’t get used to it, Potter. I still think you’re a speccy-four-eyed git.”

“Phew, that’s more like it – you had me worried for a moment there!” Harry laughed as he continued walking towards what looked like a clearing ahead. A large sign on the wall told them to ‘Beware of the Nargles’.

“Hey, maybe I’ll commit ghosticide and bump off Binns and get the History Proff job at Hogwarts and you can have the Defence job and we can hurl insults at each other across the Great Hall for ever more!” Malfoy quipped, walking backwards so he was facing Harry. “And every Thursday lunch hour we can duel and every Tuesday we can attempt to kill each other, what do you say? I bet there’d be a little know-it-all kid with frizzy hair who’d go around telling everyone, ‘If you had read _Hogwarts, a history_ , you would know...’"

“Dragon,” Harry said, stopping dead in his tracks and grabbing Malfoy’s arm.

“Hey, steady on, Potter! Just because we’ve reached a level of almost-camaraderie doesn’t mean we’re suddenly family or anything,” Malfoy snapped, shaking his arm from Harry’s grasp. “And I can assure you, only my mother ever presumes to call me ‘Dragon’.” 

“No, dragon!” Harry hissed, grabbing Malfoy again and pulling him back away from the clearing and turning him around to face it.

“Dragon!” Malfoy gulped and Harry suddenly found Draco’s long slim hand clutching his.

A large dragon lay apparently fast asleep in front of a cave. It was a dark rusty red colour with a paler belly and it instantly reminded Harry of Smaug out of _The Hobbit_. Harry knew that rationally speaking it was only a small dragon, by dragon standards at least, but it was still a rather large obstruction in their path that just might choose to roast them alive before eating them.

“Harry, it’s a real dragon, what are we going to do?” Malfoy whispered in a voice sounding close to panic, his eyes still glued to the dragon, which emitted a snore and a small puff of smoke.

“Ok, Malfoy, listen to me, you have to calm down.” Harry moved in front of Draco and put his hands on his shoulders. “We have to get past the dragon to the other side of the clearing. It appears to be asleep so we need to be very quiet but we can’t afford to go too slowly because it could wake up any second. You have to be ready to run.”

“How exactly is any of that supposed to be calming me down, Potter?” Malfoy asked, clearly trying to control the tremble in his voice. 

“Come on, just take a deep breath, that’s it. I know you’ve faced worse than this, Malfoy – I have faith in you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ve gone through a hell of a lot and come out fighting. Now, come on. Just remember, when I say run, run. Don’t stop, don’t worry about me, just run, got it?”

“Got it.”

They crept forward, Draco in front, Harry bringing up the rear, the dragon still seemingly oblivious to their presence. When they were about halfway across the clearing, a twig snapped under Harry’s trainer, making both boys stop dead in their tracks. The dragon twitched and let out a big huff, but didn’t seem to fully awaken. Barely daring to breathe, they moved on. 

As the reached the edge of the clearing, however, a shrill voice suddenly started shouting from behind one of the many hedges. “I don’t care! You’re a two-faced, two-timing bastard and I hope you never find your way out of this labyrinth! I hope you rot in here.” 

“Mi, please…”

“Don’t call me that! You no longer have the right to call me that!”

“Oh, come on, Granger!” another female voice cut in. “Learn to accept defeat.”

A gentle snorting noise behind him made Harry look around. A large yellow eye was staring right back at him.

“Er, Malfoy?” he hissed, his heart hammering in his chest. “Run.”

“What?” Malfoy was obviously distracted by the argument.

“RUN!” He could hear the dragon moving behind them and started to run as fast as he could. He heard the dragon’s breath before he felt the heat start to envelop him.

“Oh, bloody hell!” He briefly registered a voice saying before another group of people came around the corner. The arguing stopped abruptly and a series of spells were shot out.

“ _Aguamenti_!”

“ _Stupefy_!”

“ _Protego_!”

“ _Expecto Patronum_!”

A small dog raced past, followed moments later the sound the dragon retreating.

“Come on, let’s get him out of here before it comes back,” Ron’s voice said nearby as Harry was hoisted to his feet, even though he didn’t remember falling.

“There was another clearing further back with a stone bench, we could take him there,” he heard Hermione say.

“It’s ok, Hermione, just a few minor burns,” he said, opening his eyes and giving her a weak smile. 

Most of the flames had caught his clothes and whoever had cast the _Aguamenti_ had been fast enough that they hadn’t really caught, although the back of his neck felt a little cooked. Looking around for Malfoy, he breathed a sigh of relief to find the other boy casting his own worried look back at him but looking otherwise unharmed.

Coming into another clearing, thankfully with no dragon in it this time, Ron led Harry over to a bench. Hermione rushed over to start checking on him. 

“You’re not too bad, Harry, I think I can heal these.”

“Here, let me try,” another voice cut in. Harry was surprised to see the robust frame of Millicent Bulstrode stride over to him and start casting a series of healing spells. “There you go, Potter, good as new – not so sure about the clothes though, not my area of expertise.”

“Um, thanks, Millicent,” he replied awkwardly. This was the first time he’d ever actually spoken to the girl, but he seemed to remember that she was studying to be a nurse at St Mungo’s.

“No problem,” she said, giving him a genuine smile.

“I did actually pack you a change of clothes in your rucksack, Harry,” Hermione said, looking slightly disgruntled.

“Cheers.” Harry picked up his bag, which was somewhat singed, and pulled out a fresh top.

“I see you still know how to make an entrance, Potter,” Pansy Parkinson said with a smirk as she came up and slipped her arm through Ron’s. “Although I really do think you could take better care with my best friend than that.”

“Piss off, Pans, I can look after myself!” Malfoy said indignantly. “Anyway, if you lot hadn’t been yelling your heads off like a bunch of harpies the damned dragon would never have woken up and we’d have been fine.” He crossed his arms and glowered at them.

“What a beauty though!” Ron chipped in, apparently oblivious to Malfoy’s glare. “A Welsh Red, do you have any idea how rare those are? Charlie would cream his pants if he knew there was one of those kicking about here!”

“Ron!” Pansy said, batting his arm in disgust.

“Honestly, Ronald,” Hermione said at the same time, shaking her head. The two girls stopped and glared at each other.

“That was a stroke of genius though, Ron,” Harry put in quickly, trying to ease the tension. “What on earth made you think of casting a Patronus at a dragon?”

“It was something Charlie told me about,” Ron said with a grin. “Apparently dragons have very short attention spans and are easily distracted. For a dragon keeper it helps to have a Patronus like a dog or a cat that’s small and fast enough to grab a dragon’s attention so it forgets about who or what it was about to flame-grill. I never really believed him though.”

“Glad to know you had full faith in the spell you used to try and save my life, mate, thanks!” Harry said with a laugh. “So, who did you get as a partner in this?” he asked, glancing between Hermione and Pansy.

“Millie – we’re Team Tall. She’s all right, you know, for a Slytherin. They’re not all bad.” 

“Hey!” Pansy reached up and cuffed him around the back of the head. 

“Wait, ‘Team Tall’? You named your team?” Malfoy said, barely containing his laughter. “Pans, you are dating a complete nerd!” 

“Fuck off, Malfoy,” Ron replied, flipping him the finger.

“It was _my_ idea, actually,” Millicent cut in, putting her hands on her hips.

“Oh, well that’s ok then,” Malfoy replied with a shrug. “You’ve always been a nerd.”

“Thanks, Draco, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Millicent said dryly before turning to Ron. “Now that these two idiots are apparently ok, I think we should be making tracks, don’t you, Weasley?”

“I guess so,” Ron replied with a sigh, getting up from the bench where he’d been sprawled next to Harry. “If we don’t see you before the finish line, good luck!” Ron gave Pansy a quick kiss and grinned at Harry whilst avoiding Hermione’s gaze and he and Millicent headed off.

“I’d have thought you’d have been out of here by now, Hermione,” Harry teased. “In fact, I thought you’d have been at the finish line already.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Harry, we’ll still beat you,” she said, smiling sweetly. “But you are right, we must off. Can’t sit around here all day, can we now? Try not to get into anymore _tangles_ , boys!” There was an evil glint in her eye that Harry didn’t like the look of.

“We should be going too,” he said, attempting to stand and failing. Looking down he noticed a vine had wound itself around his leg, effectively tying him to the chair. “Um, Hermione? Help!” he called after her.

“Come on now, Harry – I’m sure a big strong _man_ like you doesn’t need two little girls like us to help you fight a vine!” Hermione said triumphantly, and to his surprise Pansy let out a small laugh too. “See you at the finish line – eventually!” 

The two girls ran off down the left-hand path, giggling as they went. Harry grumbled to himself and tried to reach out for his wand, which was resting on top of his rucksack and just out of arm’s reach – particularly now that the vine was trying hard to pin his arms to his chest.

“Malfoy, help me!” Harry yelped. Draco was just standing there, gaping at him. Harry’s voice seemed to snap him out of his stupor and he reached for Harry’s wand.

Malfoy pointed the wand straight at Harry, and Harry could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “ _Relashio!_ ” Malfoy cried. The vine relaxed its grip slightly but then seemed to think better and redoubled it’s grip so Harry was suddenly having trouble breathing as the vine constricted his chest.

“I think that just made it angry,” he wheezed. Malfoy twirled the wand again and walked around Harry. “In your own time, Malfoy.” Harry added sarcastically.

“ _Diffindo!_ ” Malfoy intoned, this time pointing his wand at the floor by Harry’s foot. There was a definite easing of pressure this time. Malfoy cast _Relashio_ again and the coils of vine started to fall away.

Harry shook the remnants of the plant off him and jumped off the stone bench quickly. Looking up he found Malfoy standing completely still, staring at Harry’s wand in his hand with a strange sort of hungry expression on his face.

“Er, Malfoy, d’you think I could have my wand back?” Harry asked uncomfortably. It felt weird to have someone else using his wand, and Malfoy was being down right creepy.

“Hmm?” Malfoy looked up and Harry saw his grip tighten momentarily on the wand.

“Give me my wand, please,” Harry said more forcefully this time.

“What’s the matter, Potter? Don’t trust me?” Malfoy asked in a low, ugly voice. “What do you think I’m going to do? Hex the Mighty Saviour? Maybe next time I’ll just leave you to get strangled to death by plants, just like your so-called best mate just did.” His face, having started out deathly pale, had taken on a crimson stain rising up from beneath the collar of his robe, and his eyes had taken on the flinty cold look they’d always had at school.

“I just want my wand back, Malfoy,” Harry said, refusing to back down.

“Fine, have the stupid thing then!” Malfoy drew his arm back and threw the wand at Harry as hard as he could. Harry ducked and the wand flew into the nearby hedge, stray sparks setting it on fire. “See you around, Potter,” Malfoy sneered, turning on his heal and walking out of the clearing. 

“Bugger,” Harry muttered to himself. He picked up his already-ruined t-shirt from his bag and used it to put the flames out so he could retrieve his wand, then, gathering his belongings together, he decided he’d better go and look for Malfoy. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Harry was fairly sure that, being a contrary little git, Malfoy would have gone against the Piskeys advice and taken the left-hand path. What he wasn’t so sure of was whether Malfoy wanted Harry to follow him or not, so would he have continued to take the left-hand paths or would he have gone back to the right hand path? 

He came to a stop at a sort of crossroads and peered down each path, hoping for some sort of sign to show him which way Malfoy had gone. In the middle of the junction was a very strange sort of rockery that appeared to be made out of bits of junk and seashells and what looked suspiciously like fairy skulls lined up neatly across the bottom. In the very centre was a hideous two-headed statue, its arms outstretched to point in opposite directions.

“Malfoy?” he called, not really expecting a response as he started to walk ahead, picking the path neither arm of the statue was pointing to.

“He didn’t go down there, sweetheart,” a snide voice said behind him. Looking over his shoulder he found that both heads of the statue were now looking at him, their arms moved to their hips. “He went that way.” One of the heads nodded to her right.

“Don’t listen to that lying wench, you foolish boy,” the other head said snootily. “He obviously went this way.”

“Er…” Harry said before he realised that he really had nothing to say.

“Don’t you believe a word of it, love, she wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and bit her on the nose.”

“I would, how dare you! It’s you who’s the big fibber!” 

“So, one of you knows which way my friend went then?” Harry asked loudly.

“No,” the head on the right said.

“That way, darling,” said the head on the left, pointing back down the way Harry had come. 

“I just came from down there,” he said, shaking his head.

“No, you didn’t.”

“You came from over here, my lover.”

“Wait, are you like in the film _Labyrinth_? Am I supposed to work out which of you is telling the truth and which one is lying?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, boy. Only men would be that predictable.”

“So does that mean I’m wrong?”

“I don’t know why we’re wasting our time with this one, Mary; he really is quite stupid.”

“I like him, he’s sweet.”

“Hmpf, well I preferred the other one; he was pretty.”

“No, he wasn’t. The other one looked like an albino ferret.”

“So you _have_ seen Malfoy?”

“No,” they said in unison, before glaring at each other.

Harry took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He hated mind-games, he could never see the point of them, why couldn’t people just say what they meant and be done with it. He normally let Hermione deal with this sort of thing. Malfoy would probably be brilliant, he’d probably been taught mind-games in the cradle.

“So, let me get this straight, whatever anyone says, you will contradict them, regardless of whether it’s the truth or no?”

“What ridiculous ideas you have in that pretty head,” one of the heads said with a sniff as the other gave a straightforward “No”. 

“You also contradict each other and you don’t like to say yes to anything,” Harry continued, ignoring them. 

“Yes,” the right-hand head said, tilting her chin defiantly.

“So was that agreeing with me or disagreeing?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” the statue replied cattily.

“Right. Er, what should I call you?”

“Mary,” they both replied.

“No, _I’m_ Mary!”

“No, you’re not, I am!”

“Look…”

“Ladies!” Harry practically shouted. “Mary, and, er, Mary, please, I need to find my, um, friend. How about you help me?”

“Hmmm, let’s see – no,” the right head said with a smirk.

“How about you, Mary,” he said turning to the left head. “I don’t suppose you’ll help me, will you?”

“’Fraid not, love,” she replied with out hesitation.

“Oh, so you will help me?”

“What? No! I said no!”

“Yes, but you said no when I said you wouldn’t help me, so that must mean you will help me,” Harry said smugly, feeling rather pleased with himself.

The statue, however obviously didn’t agree as it folded both its arms across its chest and both heads narrowed their eyes and glared at him.

“He went that way!” they both said, pointing in opposite directions. 

“Ok, thanks. Well, I reckon you’re both pissed off enough to definitely not help me, so I’ll just be carrying on this way.” Harry turned back up the middle path where neither of the statue’s arms were pointing. 

“He didn’t go that way!” one of the heads yelled after him.

“Good riddance, the sisters will eat you for breakfast!” the other one called.

Harry walked on and ignored them. Even if this was the wrong way, he couldn’t have spent the whole day arguing with a statue. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After ten minutes he began to think he wasn’t so clever after all, and if he wasn’t careful he was going to be even more thoroughly lost than he already was – so much for beating Hermione and Pansy, at this rate he wasn’t even going to find Malfoy and get out of the stupid labyrinth at all. 

Coming to another fork in the road, he took the left-hand path again on a whim. Every now and then as he walked, he was sure a fetid, rotten odour assaulted his nose, but each time no sooner had he thought it than the smell vanished. 

“Malfoy?” He called out again as he came to a bend in the road. 

The sight that met him as he rounded the corner was not one he was expecting. Gregory Goyle was sitting on a fallen tree in a clearing and he was, – well, the only expression Harry could think of was _snogging_ – he was snogging some old woman. Further more, an almost comatose Ernie Macmillan was sprawled out on the ground with another hag pawing at his clothes. On the other side of the clearing, Malfoy was tied to a tree yelling obscenities.

“Malfoy!” Harry called, starting to make his way towards him.

“No need to shout, handsome, I’m sure we can all hear you perfectly well,” a soft female voice said. Turning around he saw a very beautiful young woman approaching him – she had long black hair and pale skin and very startling blue eyes. “Honestly, all these lovely young men around today, my sisters and I are starting to think it must be our birthday.”

As the woman got closer Harry couldn’t help but notice the overwhelming scent of something rotting. He shook his head to try and get the smell out of his nose and for a moment, when he looked back at the woman, he could have sworn her hair was not thick and black, but very thin and grey. Her flawless pale skin became veined and wrinkled and covered in liverspots and the few teeth she had were black and broken; she looked even older than the others. He took a hasty step back but next time he looked she was young and beautiful again.

“Get away from me!” he said firmly, pointing his wand at her.

A nasty twisted look came over her face before she smiled prettily and cupped her breasts. “What’s the matter, my lovely? Surely a big strong man like you isn’t to be afeared of a lass like me? We’re just three lonesome girls looking for a little company.”

“Really? And there was me thinking you were three old hags wearing glamours to fool passing men. Now, let my friends go.”

“I don’t believe it, another one!” the hag screeched. “You don’t see a man for millennia, and when they finally turn up half of ’em ain’t even interested.”

“Tie ’im up with the other one,” called the hag beside Ernie.

“Yes, tie them up together,” cackled the other one. If we can’t get what we want from them then we might as well get a good show.”

“You won’t be tying anyone up, I’m taking my friends and I’m leaving.”

“I don’t think so, lovey,” said the hag in front of Harry.

“Lovey,” echoed her sisters.

“See, there’s three of us, an’ only one of you, so perhaps you’d better just be running along? I don’t see your friends protesting, do you?”

“One of them is tied to a tree! I’m not leaving without them.”

“You molly-boys are no fun,” one of the sisters said with a pout that looked out of place on her wrinkled face. 

“No fun at all,” echoed another as all three started to move closer to Harry. 

“Back off!” Harry said brandishing his wand. “ _Deprimo!_ ” He cast a minor explosion just in front of the sisters as a warning.

“Temper, temper, no need to get nasty,” admonished the sister who’d been kissing Goyle. She looked slightly younger than the other two, but that really wasn’t saying much.

“What do you want with them?” Harry asked.

“What do we want with them? We want their youth, of course. They give it up so willingly, not like you two.”

“Us two?” Harry found himself taking an involuntary step back as the sisters advanced.

“You and your lover boy over there, you see through our glamours, you are no use to us.”

“You’ve had your fun now, though. Why don’t you just let them all go? And he’s _not_ my lover!”

“Oh, we haven’t had nearly enough fun,” the eldest sister said with a leer.

“Not nearly enough,” echoed her sisters.

“It gets so lonely in here, maybe you boys should give us a fond memory to be going on with?” 

“Ooh yes,” the middle sister said, rubbing her hands with glee. “Who wants one boy when you can have two?” she cackled.

“Kiss him,” the eldest sister said, nodding at where Draco was still tied to the tree.

“What?” Harry said, hoping he had somehow misunderstood them.

“Kiss him. Kiss him and we’ll let you and Blondie over there go.”

“What about them?” he asked, eyeing Ernie and Goyle.

“They stay with us. They don’t mind, they aren’t like you, they find women attractive.”

Harry was silent. It was true; he did prefer men, it wasn’t even a secret, but that didn’t mean he wanted to kiss Malfoy in front of these hags. Alone, maybe. Malfoy had certainly improved since school, and he was definitely Harry’s type.

“How about you let him go anyway, and them, and I won’t hurt you?” he said, trying to look menacing.

“I’d like to see you try, lovey. Come on now, kiss him, he has very nice lips, all plump and pouty.” 

“She should know,” her sister cut in. “She tried to kiss him already. Got a knee in the gut for her trouble.”

“I tell you what,” the youngest sister said, crossing back over to where Ernie lay on the ground. “You kiss him, and do exactly what we say, and we’ll let you both go. And we won’t kill these two.” She produced a short silver knife and pressed it against Ernie’s throat.

“Ok, fine! I’ll kiss him, ok? Just leave Ernie be. And Goyle.”

Harry crossed over to the tree, his mind racing as he tried to come up with a plan. 

Malfoy was tied to the tree with a thick rope around his middle, binding his arms to his sides. Holding his wand so the sisters couldn’t see it, he attempted to cast a severing charm at the rope; it had no effect. 

“I’m sorry, Malfoy,” he whispered before leaning in and pressing his lips to Draco’s, breathing in the sent of sandalwood and mint. He got no response, he hadn’t really expected one; no doubt Malfoy would have punched him by now if his arms were free.

A cackling behind him made him look round. The sisters were whispering to each other, obviously cooking up some sort of plan. 

“I’ve done what you asked, let us go,” Harry demanded, hopefully sounding stronger than he felt.

“No, I don’t think so. That doesn’t really count as a proper kiss.” A proper kiss? What were they expecting? Tongues? 

“Maybe kissing isn’t what he wants,” said the sister kneeling by Ernie with an evil smile. “Maybe he should play with him.”

“What? No! That wasn’t part of the deal!” Harry shouted.

“You heard my sister, touch him.”

“No, I’m not doing this! I already did what you wanted.”

“Time is running out.”

“Tick tock, tick tock.”

“Look at how pretty his blood is.” The hag had made a small cut on Ernie’s neck.

“How pretty,” a sister echoed.

Harry cursed under his breath before turning back to Malfoy. “Any ideas?” he muttered so only Malfoy could hear him. “A little input would be really great about now.” 

Malfoy gave an almost imperceptible shrug and continued staring over Harry’s shoulder. 

“Please, Draco, if I don’t do this they’ll kill Ernie, and probably us and Goyle too. I need a brilliant plan to get us out of this.”

“Get on with it,” the eldest sister’s voice spoke up behind him.

Harry looked down at Malfoy’s trousers and tentatively reached his hand out before quickly pulling it back.

“Do I at least have your permission to do this?” he asked in a low voice. Malfoy gave a single nod, still refusing to look at Harry. Hating himself, Harry reached out and cupped his hand round Malfoy’s covered cock.

“That’s it, now move your hand.”

This close, Harry could see each dark eyelash framing those storm-coloured eyes that refused to meet his; he could see the different shades of grey in the irises themselves. He could see the delicate, ivory skin, the light dusting of freckles across Draco’s nose that Harry’d never been close enough to notice before. Despite his pretended indifference, a warm blush was working its way up Draco’s pale neck. Harry could almost see his pulse racing and fought off the desire to lick him there.

“Take him out and play with him properly.” 

Harry froze. It wasn’t as though he’d never given a hand job before – sex and alcohol were a big part of student life after all – and it wasn’t even that he didn’t want to touch Malfoy, he very much doubted that there were many people who hadn’t dreamt of shagging the man at some point; he was gorgeous. No, the problem was that this was not how he had fantasised about finally getting into Draco Malfoy’s pants. Malfoy was an unwilling participant who was currently tied to a tree and Harry was no better than the cackling old hags behind him. 

And that wasn’t the real problem either. No, the real problem was that Harry was getting turned on by this.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on Draco’s shoulder. He couldn’t do this, he just couldn’t. Here was the perfect opportunity to do something he desperately wanted to do, and he just couldn’t.

Draco smelled good. Draco had always smelled good, even when he’d broken Harry’s nose all the way back in sixth form, or when he’d been clutched to the back of Harry’s broom as they fled the Room of Requirement. There was no denying it any longer – Harry wanted Draco Malfoy, he’d always wanted Draco Malfoy, even before he’d ever admitted to himself that he was attracted to men. Snobby, stuck up, spoilt, beautiful Draco Malfoy, as unobtainable as the sun and every bit as likely to burn him. Draco Malfoy who’d he’d only just started to get to know and would now hate him forever more.

“Hags!” Draco cried out suddenly, speaking for the first time and making Harry jump. “You are nothing but a bunch of old crones, trying to trick us into thinking you are more. Get me out of this!” 

Harry couldn’t for the life of him work out why Draco had waited until now to suddenly point this out – surely he hadn’t only just worked out what was going on? Harry had assumed that Draco had seen the hags for what they were, just like he had.

A thud from behind him made him look round suddenly. The youngest sister over by Ernie was now slumped sideways. The other two were just turning to see what the commotion was about when they were hit in the face with a large tree branch, collapsing like two sacks of spuds. 

“You ok, boss?” Goyle asked, swaying on his feet slightly as he dropped the branch.

“Yes thanks, Greg. You can let go now, Potter,” Draco said, still not looking at him. 

With a start, Harry realised that he was still holding Draco through his trousers and jumped back quickly. “Um, right, sorry!” Grabbing his wand he cast several severing charms at the rope holding Malfoy to the tree until eventually it sliced cleanly away, leaving a deep gouge in the tree trunk. 

“Nice one, Greg!” Malfoy said, stepping forward and peering down at the fallen hags with distain.

“She looked so pretty when she started kissing me,” Goyle said sorrowfully.

Harry went and pushed the slumped form of the third hag off Ernie, checking for a pulse to make sure the boy was still alive and breathing a sigh of relief to find he was. He tried shaking him but he remained unconscious.

“What shall we do with Ernie?” he asked, turning to the other two.

“Well, he can’t complete the labyrinth like that, can he?” Malfoy said. “We’d better activate his Portkey and send him back so they can get him checked out.” 

“Shouldn’t we go with him?”

“Greg can go; he’s not looking so hot either.”

Harry glanced over at the big Slytherin and noticed that he did indeed look somewhat unsteady and a bit glassy eyed. “Ok,” he nodded. “Um, thanks, Goyle, by the way. How did you realise they weren’t what they seemed to be?”

“Draco said they was hags, and then they suddenly didn’t look so pretty no more,” Goyle said with a frown.

“The enchantment only works if you don’t know it’s there,” Malfoy said, giving Harry an unreadable look. “And if you could ever be attracted to women in the first place, of course.” Harry felt a blush stain his cheeks at that last statement, which annoyed him because he’d never felt ashamed of his sexuality and yet Malfoy was still managing to rile him over it.

“Have you still got your Portkey, Goyle?” Harry asked, changing the subject. Goyle nodded and stepped forward, taking out an old bicycle chain and placing one end in Ernie’s limp hand.

“Make sure you two win, yeah?” he said to Harry and Draco. “Or at least beat Pansy and Granger – they sent us down this way in the first place.” He tapped his wand against the Portkey and he and Ernie vanished with a small pop.

“We’d better get going,” Draco said, pushing at the nearest hag with the toe of his boot. “We don’t want to still be here when they wake up.”

Harry nodded and led the way back out of the clearing. “Do you think it’s too late to go back to the Piskies’ advice and take the right hand turnings?” he asked as they came to the first fork. “We are somewhat lost by now.”

“We were always lost, Potter, that’s the whole point.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Harry took out his wand and laid it flat on his palm. “ _Point me_.” The wand spun and pointed down the left-hand path. “I guess, in theory, that’s the right-hand path, if we were coming in the other direction I mean,” he half-questioned with a shrug, unable to bring himself to look Draco in the eye.

Draco shrugged and took the path indicated. They kept walking until they came out at the top of a small hill, giving them a good view of the labyrinth. A bizarre looking creature with a very long, crumpled horn, was grazing on a small patch of grass there. It took one look at them and ran away. 

“What the hell was that?” Draco asked.

“I have a feeling that it may have been a Crumple-Horned Snorkack,” Harry replied, shaking his head. “It’s probably best not to ask.” 

“Let me guess, another addition to Loony Lovegood’s Lovely Labyrinth?” Draco said with a sneer.

Harry’s stomach gave a loud rumble and he glanced at his watch. “How can it be nearly three already? I’m starving, let’s have some lunch and devise a plan of action.” 

“Lunch? What do you suggest, Potter, shall we just pop over to that café we passed a moment ago?” Draco asked with his hands on his hips and his right eyebrow raised.

“What café?” Harry asked with a puzzled frown.

“Merlin, Potter, have you never heard of sarcasm? My point was how are we supposed to have lunch when we have nothing to eat?”

“Well, I brought lunch – didn’t you?” Harry threw himself down onto the grass and began rummaging around in his rucksack.

“No, Potter, I didn’t bring lunch, I wasn’t exactly planning on entering the stupid labyrinth, remember?” Malfoy folded his arms and glared down at him.

“Hmm, well, I guess you can share mine, if you want; I have plenty.” Harry gave a shrug as he held out a roll to Malfoy, who made no move to take it. “It’s ok, Draco, I didn’t let Hermione make it. It’s cheese and pickle, or you can have egg and cress.”

“Just because you’ve had your hand on my cock, Potter, doesn’t mean you have the right to use my first name,” Malfoy spat out.

Harry felt himself go red. “I’ve said I’m sorry.”

“Well that’s all right then, isn’t it? You’ve said you’re sorry, everything’s fine.”

“Dra— Malfoy, please, it’s not like I had much choice. It wasn’t something I wanted to do!” Harry dropped the hand holding the sandwich and looked at Malfoy. He saw something flare briefly in the other man’s eyes before the familiar Malfoy mask returned.

“Let’s just drop the subject, shall we, Potter? It was a highly unpleasant experience for all concerned and should never be mentioned again. I’m sorry you had to touch someone you find so repulsive.”

Harry gazed down at his lunch and shrugged. “I don’t find you repulsive.” 

Malfoy stood there for a while and Harry didn’t dare look at him. Then he gracefully dropped to the grass beside Harry and somewhat grudgingly reached out and took the roll. “I know you think I’m nothing but a bigot, Potter, but I don’t actually believe I would catch Muggle germs from eating food provided by Granger,” Malfoy said, referring back to Harry’s previous comment. 

“No, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t – you might get food poisoning though.” Harry grinned, glad for the change of subject. “Hermione is skilled in a great many things but food preparation is not one of them.” Harry shrugged and bit into his sandwich.

“Come on, Potter, even I can make a half-way decent sandwich and I grew up barely knowing where the kitchen was.” Malfoy took a tentative bite from his sandwich and chewed it a bit before giving an approving nod.

They ate in silence, an awkward tension still between them that Harry could hardly blame Draco for.

He surveyed what he could see of the labyrinth spread out below them. “Look, we need to make our way to that path over there,” he said pointing out a long straight path. “That seems to go almost straight to the exit.”

“Yeah, if we can get there,” Draco replied with a frown. “I can’t see any way into it. I’m also not sure how this bit of the labyrinth seems to be so much higher up. I had assumed it was all on one level; how do we get down?”

“I guess we just try,” Harry answered, wordlessly casting a _Diffindo_ at his apple and offering half to Draco. He decided he could still call him Draco in his head. “Here, and I have some water too.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a couple of bottles of water, tossing one to Draco.

That was a mistake. Draco Malfoy looked positively sinful with his head tipped back and his gorgeous neck exposed as he took a long drink from the bottle. Harry looked away quickly before he was caught staring.

They finished up their lunch quickly and started trying to find a way of getting down to the lower part of the labyrinth. 

“The paths seem to go down gradually, I think we’ve probably been going in the wrong direction ever since the dragon,” Harry said as he tried to work out which path would be best. “It’s going to take us ages to get back on track, Hermione’s probably finished already.” 

“Look, Potter, if we climb over that wall down there we can get onto that small pathway,” Draco said, pointing to a wall that was much lower on their side than the other.

“Are you sure that’s even a proper pathway?” Harry asked dubiously.

“Does it matter? It seems to lead onto the bigger path, and that might take us down towards the lower labyrinth.”

“Yes, but surely there must be spells designed to stop you just climbing down? If it were that easy we could just keep climbing over walls until we got out.”

“We’ll never know if we don’t try. What’s the matter, Potter, scared?” Draco smirked at him.

“No, of course not,” Harry said automatically. Draco’s smirk grew wider and Harry wished he wasn’t so easy to wind up.

Draco went down a small incline until he reached the wall he had pointed out before. It was fairly high but completely overgrown with vines. 

“See, these vines are almost as old as the wall, we should be able to climb down no problem,” Draco said with a grin, his face lighting up. He pulled himself up by a handful of foliage and quickly climbed up to the top of the wall. “Come on, Potter, what are you waiting for?” he called down.

As Harry scaled the wall, Draco made his way down the other side. The wall was much higher on this side so they had to be careful. When they finally reached the bottom they found themselves in a sort of narrow gully between two of the ancient walls.

“If we just make our way along here we should come out just above another of those clearings. Then we can drop down and reconnect with a proper path,” Draco called over his shoulder as he made his way along just ahead of Harry. It wasn’t easy going, there was barely enough room for them to walk in single file, but eventually they came to a small space above a clearing, just as Draco had predicted. 

Draco waited for Harry to reach him before stepping out from their narrow pathway to climb down into the clearing. Harry only had a fraction of a second to see the look of sheer panic as Draco’s eyes met his. “Fuck,” was all Draco said. 

Harry reached out to try and grab Draco, but it was too late as the ground started to give away beneath his feet and he started to fall with the sound of his own rather unmanly scream echoing in his ears.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The initial fall was not as far as Harry had originally feared. Unfortunately they landed on what felt like steep slope made up of shingle and so they kept going downwards, unable to stop. It was completely dark and he only knew Malfoy was still with him from the thuds and occasional ‘oof’ as the other man toppled down the slope slightly ahead of him. His jeans ripped on the loose stones of the hill, his t-shirt snagged on what might have been a tree root and tore, his backpack became dislodged and still they kept falling. At one point he crashed into a boulder and a sickening cracking that he wasn’t sure if he felt or heard came from the direction of his ribs.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the ground came up to meet them with force and Harry found himself landing on top of Draco in a heap. 

“Owwww,” Draco moaned, wriggling beneath him. “Potter, get off me, you oaf.”

The pain set in properly as he tried to roll to the side and he couldn’t suppress a groan.

“Potter?” Malfoy was suddenly leaning over him. A light coming from somewhere let Harry see the other man’s face and he was surprised to notice he looked worried. 

“I think I may have broken a rib,” Harry ground out, trying to suppress the pain.

A cool hand was suddenly placed over his ribs and Harry bellowed in agony.

“Where’s your wand, Potter?”

“I don’t know.” Harry moaned. He closed his eyes and tried to will the pain away.

Draco’s hand went down to Harry’s pockets and patted them down before the other man disappeared and Harry heard him searching around.

“Thank Merlin this thing is still in one piece,” he heard Draco say and he cracked an eye open to see what he was up to. He couldn’t help the small stab of worry when he saw Draco point his wand straight at him. Next think he knew, however, the pain was receding and he had the most bizarre feeling of his ribs knitting themselves back together.

“Ow. Hey, thanks, Malfoy! Where did you learn how to do that?” He sat up and gingerly inspected his newly-mended ribs.

“Crabbe and Goyle were Beaters, Millicent taught me how to sort them out,” Malfoy responded with a shrug, like that explained everything.

“So, where the hell are we?” Harry looked around for the first time. They appeared to be in some sort of underground cave. It would have been very dark, but there was a torch flickering on the wall and Harry couldn’t help wondering how long it had been lit for – magic would never cease to impress him. 

“I dread to think,” Malfoy replied, casting a _Lumos_ with Harry’s wand to expand the light further. “Hey, look, there’s a tunnel over here.” Malfoy walk over to the opening in the wall and peered down it. 

Harry got to his feet and glanced about some more. Spotting his rucksack on the ground he went over and picked it up, collecting the bits that had spilled out into the scree as he did so. He went over to join Malfoy and peered down the tunnel too. 

“I guess we’ll have to go this way, then. I really don’t fancy trying to climb back up the way we came down.”

“I guess you’ll be wanting this back, then,” Malfoy said, offering the wand back with an expression of longing on his face.

“Um, no, we might need it for light, you can keep hold of it for a bit if you like,” Harry said, although really it was the last thing he wanted. But Draco could have turned that wand on him so easily, and instead he had fixed him up; Harry now had to show him some trust in return.

Draco gave him a small grin. “It’s surprising how much you miss magic when it’s not there. Today is the first time I’ve used magic or even held a wand since I lost Mother’s in the Room of Requirement.” He turned and started to lead the way up the tunnel.

The tunnel was as old and dusty as the cave with more magical torches set at intervals along the wall, some lit and some not. In some places the fires had spread and left scorch marks along the wall, but there didn’t appear to be any danger now.

“Potter,” Draco said suddenly after they’d been walking for about ten minutes. “Remember in second year when you spoke to that snake?”

“Er, yes?” Harry replied, puzzled. Why on earth was Draco bringing this up now?

“Was that for real or were you just showing off?” Draco asked, staring up at the lit torches.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, can you really speak Parseltongue?” Draco stopped and turned to face him.

“Oh, right. That was real, yes,” Harry said with a shrug.

“Good.” He nodded and started to walk on.

“Good? Most people think it’s bad.” Harry said in confusion, hurrying to catch up. 

“Hmm, but it might come in handy.”

“Handy? But I don’t think I can do it anymore…”

“What? How can you suddenly forget a whole language?” Draco spun around to face him again.

“Well, erm… I’d really rather not talk about it, actually, if you don’t mind.” Harry ran a hand through his hair making it stand up on end.

“Come on, Potter, stop being such a girl.” Draco folded his arms and glared at Harry

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

“ _Hey, that’s not fair!_ ” Draco mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

“Piss off, Malfoy. Why do you feel the need to prove me wrong every time I start to think that maybe you’re not a wanker?”

“Because I do so hate to disappoint you, Potter.” Draco turned and stalked off down the tunnel.

“How much further do you think?” Harry said after a bit, trying to break the silence. Draco ignored him, still staring at each torch they passed.

“Look, Potter,” he said eventually, still walking and not looking at Harry. “Are you sure you can’t speak Parseltongue any more? I mean, I’m pretty sure you can’t just lose an ability like that, and it might be pretty useful.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Harry asked with a sigh. Malfoy just looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “Ok, fine. If you really must know, it was never my ability in the first place.” Draco was actually looking at him properly now, a puzzled frown on his face. Harry took a deep breath and continued. “Voldemort was a Parselmouth, not me.”

“But, I heard you do it.”

“Look, you can’t tell anyone else this, ok, they already think I’m a massive freak. I had this sort of… mental link to Voldemort.” 

“You had a link to Voldemort?” Draco asked, sounding horrified. Any vague daydreams Harry might have been entertaining about having a future with him, or at least being friends, flew out the window.

“Yes. It generally just gave me nightmares – I saw some stuff I’d rather not have, things when he was angry. It gave me a few of his traits as well though. The Sorting Hat nearly put me in Slytherin because of it.”

“You in Slytherin? You wouldn’t have made it through the first night! So, what, when the Dark— I mean, um, You Know Who, died, you just forgot how to speak snake?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Look, Draco, why are you so interested in this?”

“It may have escaped your notice, Potter, but we are in a very old tunnel that has been magically lit with torches,” Draco responded with a sigh.

“Funnily enough, Malfoy, I had sort of noticed,” Harry said, rolling his eyes.

“Magically lit with magical fire, despite the fact that we are probably the only people to come down here for about two millennia.”

“Don’t exaggerate! Luna probably did it.”

“No, she didn’t. We’re not supposed to be down here, remember? It was an accident. There are no footprints, no signs of anyone but us being here. This place is old, probably even older than the labyrinth, and yet there’s fire. If you paid attention, even to Hagrid, you’d know that where magical fires get left unattended, you get Ashwinders.”

“What are Ashwinders? I mean, I know we used to put Ashwinder eggs in potions, but what are they?” Harry asked, walking straight into Draco who had stopped.

“Potter, do you seriously never pay attention to anything? Ashwinders are snakes, magical snakes, hence the wanting to know if you could speak Parseltongue. They breed in magical fires and then lay eggs. When the eggs hatch they explode. They are unbelievably dangerous.”

“And you think there might be some down here?”

“It’s a theory, yes. Look at the scorch marks on the walls and floor. This place is ideal for them, it’s cool, dry, plenty of magical fire, no humans…” Draco shrugged, looking slightly worried.

“I guess they wouldn’t be very pleased to see us then.”

“Not really, no.”

“What does an Ashwinder look like?”

“A snake, obviously. Ash coloured, long, thin, snakelike – a bit like a cobra.”

“Red eyes?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Like that one?” Harry pointed behind Draco. A medium-sized snake was in the middle of the path, its head raised towards them. 

“Fuck!” Draco yelped, jumping back and crashing into Harry. “Now would be a really good time to remember how to talk to snakes, Potter!”

The snake reared up and hissed at them. Draco tried to move even closer to Harry, which wasn’t quite possible as he was practically in his arms already. Harry racked his memory, trying to remember what it was like to talk to snakes, how to form the words, but nothing was coming to him and the snakes hisses continued to sound just like that, hisses.

To his surprise, Draco suddenly turned his head and kissed Harry square on the mouth.

“What did you do that for?” he blurted out.

A hurt look fleetingly passed across Draco’s face. “I know you don’t find me attractive, Potter, I know having to touch me was probably one of the worst experiences of your life, you made that pretty clear. For what it’s worth I do fancy you, I always have, and if one or both of us is about to die then at least I got to kiss you.” He looked embarrassed, but for once he defiantly met Harry’s eye.

“We kissed earlier,” Harry pointed out stupidly.

“That hardly counts.”

“Really?” Before Draco could stop him, Harry leant up and pressed his lips to Draco’s, taking advantage of his surprised gasp to push his tongue into the other man’s mouth. To his delight, Draco kissed him back, but another hiss from the Ashwinder pulled them up short. 

“Typical, cock-blocked by a snake,” Draco muttered.

“ _How sickening_ ,” a dry papery voice said.

“What?” Harry asked.

“I said, ‘typical, cock-blocked by a snake’,” Draco said, giving him a funny look.

“No, not you.” Harry looked down at the snake and concentrated.

“Potter, you look like you’re about to have an aneurism.”

“Shhh!” Harry said in frustration.

“ _We’re not here to hurtt you_ ,” he hissed in what he hoped was Parseltongue. 

“ _Then whatt are you doing here?_ ” the snake replied.

“ _We fell through the rooff ffurther back, we jussttt want to ffind our way outt.”_ The Parseltongue wasn’t coming as easily as it used, it was more like he was working from memory than instinct, but it was coming back to him.

“ _Pick me up._ ”

“ _Huh? No! Why?_ ”

“ _Becaussse I don’t feel inclined to trusstt you. Pick me up. Iff you or your ffriend try to ssteal my eggss, I will bite you. If you don’t, you can putt me down at the other end of the tunnel and I will let you go._ ”

“ _Why sshould_ I _trusstt_ you _?_ ”

“ _Becausse if you don’t, my babiess will hatch, and you will die in the fire._ ”

“ _All right, butt do I have your word that you won’t bite me so long as I leave your eggss alone?_ ”

“ _Yesss_.” 

Harry bent down to pick up the snake causing Draco to whimper behind him. 

“Harry? What are you doing?”

“Picking up the snake.”

“I can see that. Why?”

“Because she’s going to let us pass so long as we don’t try and hurt her eggs. If we do go near them, she will bite me. Come on.”

They walked on down the tunnel. In a niche along the wall was a glowing pile of eggs with steam coming from them.

“Ashwinder eggs,” Draco muttered. “Do you have any idea how valuable those are?”

“Shut up, Malfoy. I really don’t want to be bitten.”

“ _You mussstt hurry. They will be hatching sssoon_ ,” the snake hissed at him. Harry doubled his pace. 

“ _You may putt me down here_ ,” the snake said once they were well past the nest. “ _The tunnel will fork ahead. Ttake the right-hand path._ ”

“ _Thank you_ ,” Harry hissed back, gently putting the snake back on the ground.

They watched it slither off back down the path. 

“I think we’d better get a move on, she said the eggs were about ready to hatch,” Harry said, turning to Draco.

Draco’s eyes went wide for a second before he grabbed Harry’s hand. “Come on then!” They ran down the tunnel, taking the right-hand path when it forked, just as the Ashwinder had said. Around the next corner they saw daylight ahead, but several loud bangs behind them suggested the Ashwinder eggs were starting to hatch. They put on an extra spurt of speed and finally they broke out onto a wide path, collapsing onto the ground and gasping for air. 

“So,” Harry finally said when he’d got his breath back. “Out of curiosity, how venomous is an Ashwinder? What would have happened to me if it had bitten me?”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Draco asked, sitting up, still clutching Harry’s hand in his. Harry nodded. “It would have felt like it had set your blood on fire, like you were burning up from the inside. Eventually you would have just caught fire, and there would have been nothing I could do – there is no anti-venom for an Ashwinder bite; that’s one of the many reasons why their eggs are so expensive.” 

Harry gulped as he sat up; it didn’t sound like a nice way to die, if there was such a thing.

“Harry!” a voice called from further down the path they were lying on.

“Ron!” he called back, letting go of Draco’s hand and jumping up.

“Where did you two come from?” Millicent asked as she and Ron reached them. “You weren’t ahead of us just now, we’d have seen you.”

“We just came out of the tunnel,” Harry said, turning to point; but there was no sign of any tunnel. “It was there a second ago,” he said in confusion, running his hand over what now appeared to be a solid wall of rock.

“This place is weird, mate, don’t think too hard about it,” Ron said, clapping him on the shoulder.

“What happened to you two, anyway?” Draco asked, briefly glaring at Ron’s hand on Harry’s shoulder. “You’re filthy.”

Looking at the other two properly, Harry realised Draco was right; they were wet and muddy.”

“Well, someone made the crucial mistake of teaming up my beloved current girlfriend with my bitter ex-girlfriend,” Ron said with a shake of his head. “I think Hermione’s corrupted her.”

“Wait, you think Granger’s corrupted Pansy?” Draco said with a laugh. “I assure you, Pans doesn’t need corrupting, especially not from the likes of Granger! That would be like a kitten showing a tiger how to hunt. What did they do?”

“They led us into a bog, obviously,” Millicent said with a sigh. “Mr Genius here didn’t believe that his precious Pansy would deliberately mislead him when she told him which way Granger was planning on going. Turns out Granger and Pansy are more alike than we thought.”

“They left Potter to be eaten by a plant,” Draco said. “And I had no wand.”

“You seem to have one now,” Ron said, frowning at Harry’s wand which was still in Draco’s hand.

“Oh, this is Potter’s,” Draco said casually, tossing the wand back to its owner.

The all started to walk down the path together. It was wider than most of the other paths, so there was plenty of room for them all. 

“You know, I think this might be the path we were aiming for, Potter,” Draco said, staring at a particularly large tree. “We should be nearly out of here.”

They carried on down the path as Ron told them all about how Pansy and Hermione had tricked them into the bog and how long it had taken them to get out again and find their way back onto the path. They were all laughing as they turned a corner and saw a large gate a few hundred yards ahead.

“Please tell me that’s the way out,” Millicent said with a sigh of relief. 

“Looks like it,” Harry replied.

Just then another couple of familiar people came out of a turning just ahead of them. 

“I told you we shouldn’t have listened to those bloody pixies! Take the left-hand path indeed – every left-hand path is a dead end if you—” 

They all stopped and stared at each other. Hermione took one look at the four of them and then over at the gate. Glancing at Pansy the two of them seemed to come to some sort of unspoken agreement as they both started to run for the gate.

The remaining four looked at each other. “Come on!” Harry cried, breaking into a run.

Pansy and Hermione had a good head start, but the boys were steadily gaining on them. Even though Harry had always been good at running, Ron’s long legs gave him an advantage as he pulled ahead. 

It was so quick that Harry almost didn’t see Hermione pull her wand and cast a quick tripping hex at Ron as he overtook her, and he and Draco only just had time to jump move to the side as the gangly redhead went sprawling on the ground. Sensing Draco stumble beside him, Harry figured Hermione must have aimed at them as well as they went past her, but they both kept running. 

Pansy was almost at the gate now and Harry put on a final extra spurt of speed to catch her up. He and Pansy went flying through the gate neck and neck, with Draco only a few steps behind them. 

“I think that counts as a draw, Potter,” Pansy wheezed, clutching at her side as she doubled over.

“Well done, you three!” Luna called out as she came over, flipping her hair out of her face. “Uh, which of you is in a pair? We can only place complete teams you know.”

“That would be Potter and me,” Draco drawled, standing up straight. “Bad luck, Pans.”

“But that’s not fair, it’s not my fault Granger can’t run,” Pansy pouted.

“Excellent, Harry and Draco, that puts you in second place!” Luna said clapping her hands with a smile. “I do so love to see people working together like this. Oh and here come three more.” 

Harry looked round to find Ron limping up to the finish line being supported between Millicent and Hermione.

“I don’t know why you won’t just let me heal you,” Millicent was saying crossly.

“Because then I couldn’t make Hermione feel guilty,” Ron replied cheerfully.

“I said I was sorry,” Hermione said peevishly.

“So did I, countless times,” Ron pointed out.

“Me tripping you does not compare with you dumping me for Pansy Parkinson.”

“How many times? I did not dump you for Pansy! We had already broken up before I ever got together with Pans.”

“Oh right, she just conveniently managed to fall into your bed less than a week later?”

“Exactly, _later_!”

“Ron, you hurt me!”

“Will you two SHUT UP!” Millicent shouted. “I’m sick to death of this argument, it’s been going on for the last six months! Granger, Weasley is with Pansy now, deal with it. Weasley, you fancied Pansy before you broke up with Granger, admit it. There, now, life is far too short for this bollocks so will you please just kiss and make up and we can all go to the pub.”

“Well said,” Harry called out as they cleared the finish line. “Come on, pub.”

“Who won?” Hermione asked quickly.

“Oh, Victor and Padma completed the course about an hour ago,” Luna replied with a smile. 

“Victor Krum? I didn’t know he was here! Harry said, perking up and looking round for Victor. 

“He’s gone down the Red Dragon with Padma, Greg and Ernie,” Luna said with a shrug. 

“Red Dragon? Good choice of name,” Ron said with a laugh. “Luna, did you know there’s a Welsh Red running around in there? They’re really rare.”

“Come on then, everyone, let’s go and join them,” Hermione sighed. “I have a feeling I probably owe a few people a drink.”

“Yeah, about that – wanting to win is one thing, but you totally abandoned me to that Wandering Vine earlier, I could still be there if it was left to you two,” Harry pointed out as they started to walk.

Don’t exaggerate, Harry,” Hermione said. “It wasn’t like I left you alone; Malfoy was there.”

“Malfoy’s wandless! He’s just got out of Azkaban, remember?”

“Well, you gave him his old wand back, right?”

“When was I supposed to do that? I didn’t even know he was out until today.”

“I packed it in your rucksack, Harry. I thought we could do with a spare wand.”

Harry stopped in his tracks. “So, you’re telling me I had his wand with me all the time? Hey Draco…” He looked around at their small group. “Where’s Draco?”

“He’s back there, talking to Astoria,” Pansy said from where she had her arm around Ron.

“Oh, right. Er, I guess I’ll just go and give him his wand back then.” Harry hurried back towards Draco, rummaging in his bag for the wand and therefore missing the knowing look that passed between Hermione and Pansy.

“Hey, Malfoy, can I have a word?” he called as he drew near.

“What is it, Potter?” Draco asked, giving Astoria an apologetic smile as he left her and walked over to Harry.

“I have something that belongs to you,” Harry said, proffering the wand he had just found at the bottom of his bag. “Sorry, I honestly didn’t realise I had it with me, Hermione stuck it in my bag at the last minute in case we needed a spare.”

Draco took the wand as though he were afraid it would blow up like an Ashwinder egg. Suddenly he smiled and waved the wand through the air. “ _Orchideous_ ,” he cried, laughing with childlike delight as a bunch of flowers sprang from the tip. “Thanks, Potter.”

“Do you want to come for a drink?” Harry blurted out, wanting to see more of this laughing Draco and get to know him.

The expression on Draco’s face sobered up. “Potter, just because I kissed you doesn’t mean you have to ask me out you know. I thought I was going to die, I’d have kissed anyone who happened to be there – except Weasley, obviously.”

“Er, right. Actually, I wasn’t really asking you on a date – there’s a whole bunch of us going,” he said, indicating to where the others were waiting for him.

“Oh.” Draco blushed bright red and went quiet.

“But I’m free tomorrow night, if you wanted to…”

“If I wanted to?”

“You know, go on a date with me. If you want to.”

“Potter, I can’t go on a date with you.”

Harry felt his heart sink to his boots. “Ok then, I guess I had to try, right?” he said with a small shrug.

“It wouldn’t be right,” Draco said by way of explanation. “You’re Harry Potter, you deserve better than someone like me.”

“No I don’t! Surely it’s up to me who I want to go out with?”

“And what would all your precious friends and fans have to say about it? Harry Potter and a male ex-Death Eater he’s always hated?”

“If they’re really my friends, it won’t bother them.” Harry said determinedly. “But let’s find out, shall we?” 

Harry leant in and kissed Draco firmly on the mouth, deepening the kiss as soon as he felt Draco give in. As he came up for air he heard catcalls and wolf whistles from where their friends stood. He looked over and gave them a small wave.

“See? They approve,” he said with a smile. “So, do you have any other excuses?”

Draco’s only answer was to lean in and shut him up with a kiss.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
